NO ABORTION FUNDING IN THE BUDGET

NO ABORTION FUNDING IN THE BUDGET

Open Letter to the Illinois General Assembly

May 24th, 2018

On September 28, 2017, Governor Rauner signed into law House Bill 40, which authorizes the use of taxpayer funds for abortions through Medicaid and state employee health insurance. This new mandate is not eligible for reimbursement by the federal government, putting the entire cost on Illinois taxpayers.

House Bill 40 did not contain an appropriation; therefore, funding for elective abortions will come out of state Medicaid and health insurance funding.

No one knows how many more abortions there will be due to House Bill 40, but no matter the number, the principle is the same: our state tax dollars should not go to pay for abortion. You have the opportunity to ensure that no taxpayer money is used to end the life of any unborn child.

We are asking all members of the Illinois General Assembly to refuse to provide the means for House Bill 40 to accomplish its deadly consequences by including language in annual appropriations denying the use of tax dollars for elective abortions.

Due to our less-restrictive laws, in 2016 there was a 40 percent increase in the number of people coming to Illinois from out-of-state to undergo an abortion, forcing Illinois taxpayers not only to pay for abortions of Illinois citizens but of those from out-of-state. House Bill 40 will accelerate this trend.

It’s all a deplorable display. They’re willing to brazenly fight
common-sense protections that ensure women’s health and safety. And they fiercely oppose any attempt to give women informed consent and true choice.
Make no mistake; these individuals want absolutely nothing to stand in
the way of abortion. And pro-life laws are proving to be their number
one adversary.

How effective are pro-life laws at lowering the incidence of
abortion? A study by Michael New, assistant professor at the University
of Michigan-Dearborn, provides a meta-analysis of 20 years of abortion
data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. His research reveals that pro-life laws are reducing abortion rates. Here’s how:

Public Funding Restrictions – Some states provide public
funding for abortions. In 15 out of 18 cases, abortion rates fell after
Medicaid funding was reduced. Specifically in the state of North
Carolina, there was not only a decrease in the abortion rate, but an
increase in the birthrate was observed months later. The findings
concluded that 37% of the women who would have otherwise had an abortion
carried their child to term when funding was not available.

Parental Involvement Laws – Pro-abortion activists have
denounced laws involving parents, saying you can’t legislate good family
communication. Yet in 16 peer-reviewed studies there was a statistical
decline in the number of abortions of minors in states where these laws
were enacted. The difference ranged from 13% to as high as 42%.

Informed Consent Laws – There are variations in how these
laws are enacted. Some require a counseling visit prior to an abortion;
others specify how information about development in the womb is
communicated. It’s estimated that viewing color photos of the unborn
baby’s development results in a 3% to 7% reduction in the abortion rate.
In-person counseling can reduce rates by as much as 12%.

The full article published by State Politics & Policy Quarterly is available at this link.Pro-life laws are proving that abortion-on-demand is NOT the solution women want or need. By
offering women life-affirming alternatives, more mothers are realizing
that they can choose life for their babies. And the exciting part is
we’re at the cusp of seeing more fruit from our efforts. Over 220
pro-life laws have been passed at the state level since 2011. Imagine
the lives we’ll see saved in the next 5 to 10 years.

This celebration comes with a caution however. The pro-aborts fight
us tooth and nail every step of the way. One recent example is US Senate
bill 1696 with the misleading name, “Women’s Health Protection Act.”
This is radical pro-abortion legislation that’ll wipe out all pro-life
laws ever passed by both the federal and state levels of government. This will leave women completely vulnerable to the abortion industry,
without any protections or regulations. They’re determined to make
abortion-on-demand the law of the land. Obviously, it’s our
responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen.